On the water, under the water, near the water or thinking about the water.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

New England Aquarium Dive

Back when I owned the dive shop I got involved with all the local dive clubs. We volunteered at their events, held meetings at the shop, and kept on top of all club goings-on. One of the first things we did when we bought the shop was to host the Frozen Fin Dive on New Year's Day. We provided a free heated tent, free chowder, burgers and coffee, and blared tunes all day long. We gave out free T-shirts, we held a raffle. We entered the RI dive world with a splash.

We ended up selling the shop, but we still help out the New England Aquarium Dive Club, which operates out of Boston. Every fall they run an event at which divers can hunt for rare fish species and donate them to the Aquarium. The Club runs the event, they do the food and raffle thing too.

Last fall Todd and I attended the event, and put down a bid for a dive in the New England Aquarium in Boston. We bid prohibitively high, figuring that we'd either win or we'd help the club raise money for the Aquarium. We managed to accomplish both.

On Saturday we went on the dive.

We dove with a 450 lb sea turtle named Myrtle the Turtle. There were also sand sharks, moray eels, and a nurse shark. But what was particularly great about diving the NE Aquarium was that we were given permission to touch the animals. I scratched the back of Myrtle's neck. I ran my hands down the sides of the sharks as they swam by. I played with Myrtle's fins. I pet the big nurse shark as it dozed on the bottom. I looked out at the little kids who stood with their mouths hanging open watching us.

I've dove the tank at Epcot. I've dove the tank at the Georgia Aquarium too. But this dive, in this little 200,000 gallon tank, was the best of them.

2 Comments:

One of the biggest treats of riding a motorcycle was always the excited little kids, jumping up and down and waving. Same kinda deal. If that sort of thing doesn't give you warm fuzzies, you need to check your family tree for Scrooges.